Nesta managing director Brian Hefferon began working for his father’s company Need More Space on and off as a teenager. He became MD in 2011.
The business is part of the wider Kefron Group, which his father founded 25 years ago with Michael Kearns. It provides secure document management in Ireland and the UK.
The two men retired at the end of 2014 leaving the business in the hands of their sons – Brian with Nesta, his brother Colm with Two Men and a Truck, and Paul Kearns with Kefron.
When Hefferon took over Need More Space, he says it was time to re-examine the business. It had seen little growth from its beginnings until around 2000 when it went into expansion mode. In 2006 and 2007, the management opened two new locations which Hefferon says allowed them “enough time to get to critical mass” before the industry came under pressure in the recession around 2009 and 2010 when business fell by 25 per cent.
Around this time, a short-term agreement with landlords led to a rent reduction on some sites, which took the pressure off for a couple of years. They also negotiated with service providers in areas such as energy.
“Before the recession people didn’t have time to place a great focus on things like how much they were spending on energy costs,” he says.
The company engaged in focus groups, surveys and workshops with clients and staff to ascertain strengths and weaknesses. They focused on three areas: staff, security and ease of access as important factors for clients, who are both private and corporate customers.
Clients range from short- and long-term and across many different industries from film production to retail.
Private clients use the storage facilities for small goods and valuables or the overflow from their homes while corporate clients store stock.
“Like us, other businesses began to look at costs,” says Hefferon. “This actually became an advantage to us, with people realising that they could rent space cheaper from us, particularly if their stock levels had dropped. We provide a full service which can often work out cheaper for people than renting or their own standalone premises by the time they factor in light, heat, rates, having staff on site for deliveries, even things like being fire-safety compliant.”
Monthly contracts and flexibility in terms of storage space mean customers are not as constrained as they might be, with more permanent warehousing.
Hefferon says they had received positive feedback about their staff. “They are the people who deal with our clients every day,” he says. “You would be amazed at the myriad emotions attached to why people store things and we see all sorts of people coming here – people who have had a bereavement and who are not ready to go through their loved one’s belongings, people who have lost their job and are starting a new business, people who have growing families or who’ve just been divorced. It’s births, deaths and marriages in this business.”
Capitalising on the existing strengths of his business, Hefferon says the company made a concerted effort to get the staff working together better. He also decided to rebrand the company from Need More Space to Nesta in an attempt to emphasise quality of service.
“We went through a period of self-discovery after the Celtic Tiger,” says Hefferon. “We had a very functional brand but realised that there was more to it. We looked cold and hard and yet our service was warm and friendly. We wanted our branding to reflect that.”
The units now also open earlier and close later in the day and open at weekends.
Working with Nik Dillon and Adam Gallacher of We Make Design (“I liked them because they’re a family business”) and branding specialist David O’Connor, the name Nesta was chosen as it reflects “a safe haven where you put precious things” and the colour orange was introduced to bring energy and warmth to the brand.
A focus on security and ease of access has seen a large investment in the latest security facilities such as high resolution cameras and alarms. “In 1986 it was a lock and key outfit but times have changed – the grounds and buildings are individually monitored and alarmed, visitors have access only to their floors and they use pin codes to access their units. If someone doesn’t feel secure, they won’t rent from you.”
The business has just shy of 200,000sq ft of space across 2,228 rooms in four locations at Santry, Sandyford, the Kylemore Road and Deansgrange. This will grow by the end of the year with an addition of 900 rooms. Between January 2014 and January 2016, Hefferon will have invested €2 million in fit out, security and health and safety.
“Security is so important to our business that it is important for us not only to constantly improve the technology but also to be able to demonstrate the security of our sites.”
With many clients seeking office space as well as storage space Hefferon has capitalised on demand by providing serviced offices in three sites.
The focus in the next 12 to 18 months will be on filling the new space, becoming more expansion-ready, looking to other counties with the long term eye on Europe and the UK.
And does his father approve? “I think he is proud of where we are going,” says Hefferon. “People were nervous about us changing the brand but increased figures prove that I made the right decision.”
